Avowed’s Combat Is Obsidian’s Answer to The Elder Scrolls

For years, Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series has been a gold standard for first-person RPGs, with nigh unmatched storytelling, world-building, and immersion. However, in spite of all its successes, The Elder Scrolls‘ combat has consistently proven to be its greatest weakness, offering clunky, weightless, and repetitive mechanics that result in it being little more than a part of each game’s world on account of necessity rather than as a core element. Now, despite initially being inspired by The Elder Scrolls, Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed has taken the stage with a combat system that outshines anything its cousin has ever done in that arena.

Essentially, Avowed‘s combat is Obsidian’s answer to The Elder Scrolls. Rather intentionally or unintentionally, Avowed offers Bethesda’s beloved series a chance to dig deeper into its own combat mechanics, showcasing a system that is far more fluid, dynamic, fast-paced, and engaging than that of the crown jewel of RPG franchises.

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Avowed Review

Avowed’s first-person combat and respect for player choice make it a journey worth having, but flaws in its story and design make it a one-way road.

The Elder Scrolls’ Combat Has Always Felt Clunky, Weightless, and Repetitive

Despite the incremental improvements it has made over its lifespan, The Elder Scrolls has long been criticized for its clunky, weighty, and repetitive combat. This is largely due to the franchise leaning more toward a simulated approach to combat than a fluid action experience, which can result in it being seen as a series strength or weakness, depending on perspective. Its combat lacks a number of different characteristics found in other RPGs that, were those characteristics present in The Elder Scrolls, might make it a great example of first-person combat all around.

For example, compared to Dark Souls or The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The Elder Scrolls‘ combat feels less precise and tactical. That might be a given, considering both Dark Souls and The Witcher 3 are played from a third-person perspective, but there is a still a strong case for first-person combat to rely on precision and strategy. Compared to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2‘s combat, The Elder Scrolls lacks technical depth in its mechanics. It also lacks the verticality and dynamic mobility of Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s combat, but that might be considered less of a necessity for a first-person game.

Avowed’s Combat Is Far More Involved Than The Elder Scrolls’ Has Ever Been

Even so, Avowed has managed to craft a first-person combat system that accomplishes most, if not all of these characteristics and more, requiring players to be more strategic, lighter on their toes, and more precise than they’ve ever been in an Elder Scrolls game. The enemies in Avowed are very aggressive the majority of the time, meaning players can’t simply expect to plow right through everything as long as their character is strong enough. There is a mobility it calls for that The Elder Scrolls has long lacked, leading to Avowed‘s combat system feeling far more involved on a much broader level.

This is especially realized in Avowed‘s class philosophy and emphasis on build diversity, which allows players to choose different abilities from various skill trees and use any weapon they want. With a system like that, players can adapt to every combat scenario on a whim, rather than simply using the same setup throughout the game. It also reduces the predictability of combat, forcing players to be more engaged with every enemy mob they encounter and every initially quiet room or cave they walk into. In short, Avowed has something here with its combat that The Elder Scrolls should take a look at moving forward.

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Released

February 18, 2025

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence

Publisher(s)

Xbox Game Studios